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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Says, Admin Held Very Good Meeting With Iranian Delegation; Trump Media Ban Case Set For Court Hearing Tomorrow; Harris Seeks To Boost Abdul El-Sayed In Critical Senate Race; Brain Injuries From Six Flags Rollercoaster Climb To More Than 100 After CNN Investigation, Attorneys Say; George Lucas Opens The Doors To A New Hollywood Masterpiece. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired September 22, 2026 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, President Trump making headlines at the United Nations today as he's caught up in the middle of a First Amendment fight. The president threatened to annihilate Iran today. He claimed Cuba's government will collapse, and he said he thinks Russia and Ukraine will make a peace deal.

[18:00:00]

We've got all of today's U.N. headlines in just moments.

Plus, as she mulls a 2028 bid, former Vice President Kamala Harris is jumping right into the midterms, campaigning today in a race that is crucial if Democrats want to flip the Senate. We're live on the campaign trail in moments.

Also, a major follow-up to a story we brought you here on The Lead last month. Attorneys say more than 100 people now plan to sue Six Flags, claiming they were seriously injured on a rollercoaster in California. CNN spoke with one man who says he had emergency brain surgery because of the ride.

And Hurricane Polo is still strengthening after exploding into a rare Category 5 storm with sustained winds topping out at 180 miles per hour. We've got an update on the storm's track tonight.

The Lead tonight, President Trump on the world stage, and a key question, is a deal to end the Iran war actually in sight? Today, President Trump addressed the United Nations, saying he was deciding whether to, quote, annihilate, unquote, Iran. Then he told reporters his aides had a very good meeting with the Iranian delegation.

He also signed an agreement to establish a large military presence on Greenland, and he provoked the Cuban delegation to walk out of his speech after he said the communist government, quote, will fall, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a, quote, positive and productive meeting with President Trump, and told reporters he's ready to discuss an energy ceasefire with Russia.

CNN State Department correspondent Kylie Atwood is at the United Nations right now for us. Kylie, a new CNN poll shows that Americans are quite dissatisfied with President Trump's handling of the Iran war. How optimistic is the U.S., officials in the U.S., about a potential deal after today?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, they take their lead from President Trump, and he is clearly proactively entertaining the possibility of a negotiated Iran deal once again. That is a marked shift from where he was less than a month ago, where he said he was content with the U.S. position, that the U.S. was not seeking negotiations with Iran.

But today, he said that the meeting that took place between officials on his administration, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and Iranian officials was a productive meeting. He said it lasted for three hours, that they agreed to have further discussions. We don't know when that will take place.

But all this happens against the backdrop, of course, of that war affecting global energy markets, affecting the global economy, and, of course, driving up the prices for gas here in the United States heading into the midterms. That's obviously a political problem for the Trump administration.

Trump said when he spoke at the United Nations General Assembly addressing world leaders that he doesn't believe that there will be a deal before the U.S. midterms take place. But if the Trump administration wants to get to that deal after the midterms in November, there is a recognition obviously that they would have to work on what that deal would look like. It's not clear that they would return to that MOU that the U.S. and Iran agreed to back earlier this summer and then that fell apart.

Amid the backdrop of all of this, the U.S. is also proposing, sources tell me, an investment fund for energy and infrastructure in the Middle East. Obviously, that comes as they're trying to shore up the possibility of getting energy out of that region, given that there has been the Strait of Hormuz challenges. There is oil getting out of the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. military escorts, but the levels are not, on average, as high as they were before this Iran war took place.

We'll watch and see what discussions happen on that front as we talk to sources throughout the night tonight, heading into tomorrow where Trump isn't here, but top officials from the administration will be. Jake?

TAPPER: Thank you. Kylie, what about that other war, the one President Trump said he would end on day one of the second administration, the one between Russia and Ukraine?

ATWOOD: Well, Trump said today that he's hopeful that there would be a resolution in the near term, but, frankly, it's language that we've heard from him time and time again. There are no specifics as to how to drive an end to that conflict at this time. We do know that there are going to be meetings with Trump administration officials on that later today, so we'll watch and see how that plays out. But there appears to be no diplomatic breakthrough on that front, even as U.S. officials have repeatedly said in recent weeks that they would like to see a trilateral meeting between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Kylie Atwood at the U.N., thank you so much.

With us now, Texas Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro, he's also joining us from the United Nations General Assembly. Congressman, good to see you.

So, President Trump says the administration had a, quote, very good meeting with the Iranian delegation today. Trump seems optimistic about a deal, or so he says, but he keeps saying it's going to happen after the midterm elections. What do you actually think is going on? Do you think voters should believe what the president's saying here?

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Unfortunately, I don't think voters can believe what the president is saying because he has said repeatedly before that the war was going to end, and then it keeps going.

[18:05:02]

And this war, along with his tariff policy and his mass deportation campaign are the reasons that Americans are paying higher gas prices, higher grocery prices, higher rent. And so it's been devastating financially to a lot of people in my district in San Antonio and across the country.

TAPPER: Trump also said today that, quote, freedom will be coming to Cuba, unquote. You've warned the U.S. should not get involved in overthrowing the Cuban government. What's your take on how the Cuban people are best -- will be best able to get democracy and freedom?

CASTRO: Well, that's what we wish for the Cuban people, is that they get to choose their leaders and have free and fair elections. That said Donald Trump has threatened to overthrow the Cuban government. And you look at what's happened in Venezuela. He overthrew the Venezuelan government with Maduro, but actually left in place Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez.

And the only people that have been enriched by what happened in Venezuela are people that have been close to Donald Trump. There is a multi-billion dollar fund that we don't know where the money is coming or going. There's just been a recent agreement called a NABEP agreement with a man named Mr. Betancourt, that again has had sanctions placed on him before, had legal troubles before, and so just a lot of cronyism, crony capitalism, and self-enrichment here.

So, if it's the same thing for Cuba, if he means freedom for the Cuban people means an invasion, an overthrow of the government, and the only people to get rich are the people close to Donald Trump, then the American people, I don't think, want that, and certainly the Cuban people wouldn't want that.

TAPPER: Turning to Trump's immigration crackdown, we now have video from the Austin Police Department released at the press conference in the last hour, showing the moments after 28-year-old Wilber Rafael Garces Perez was shot in the back by an ICE agent in Austin, Texas while delivering for DoorDash on Sunday. You can see him getting out of the car, placed in handcuffs, a police officer cutting off his shirt.

One of your staffers went to the ICE facility in Texas holding Perez. You plan on seeing him tomorrow. What new information did you learn today? Why did this ICE agent apparently shoot him in the back?

CASTRO: Well, first, Jake, I have to say that the way they have treated Wilber Garces Perez comes pretty close to torture. And the reason I say that is because they shot him in the back, they took him to a hospital, but shortly after that, they took him to an ICE processing center where he was made to lie on the floor, was not given pain medication or any way to ease his pain, was then taken to a detention center, which is basically like a prison, a former prison, in Pearsall, Texas, and he was in excruciating pain. He could not move the left side of his body, and they were still refusing to take him to the hospital.

It wasn't until hours after that that they finally took him to the hospital, and then, again, took him back to the ICE detention center, again, without giving him the medication and treatment that he needed. That is basically torture.

And, again, this is somebody who initially at least we know had a work permit. He came in through the CBP One app, which under President Biden, that was the legal way to come in and to do it in an orderly fashion, and he followed the rules to do that.

And so Greg Casar, who represents Austin, he and I are going to go visit Wilbur Garces Perez at what is known as the South Texas ICE Processing Center off of I-35 in Pearsall, Texas tomorrow. And I'll have more to report back after that.

TAPPER: Have you spoken to other Democrats about how a Democratic House will handle ICE matters if you do in fact flip control of the House?

CASTRO: We're going to hold him accountable. And that starts with investigations and bringing in ICE, of course, reviewing their budget. But you can't run an agency in this kind of lawless way and expect that the Congress is going to continue to give you billions and billions of dollars in the way that this Republican majority Congress has. It's not right. Again, this essentially amounts to a kind of torture.

TAPPER: Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas, thanks for your time today, sir. I appreciate it.

We did not show you a lot of video of the president today because there's still a First Amendment fight going on after Trump banned CNN and two other news organizations from even entering the White House. There's a hearing in the case tomorrow. We're going to talk about all of this next with a First Amendment attorney. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:10:00]

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead today, for a president who loves to win, he's not one to talk about his potential losses much.

But today, Trump acknowledged that the judge in this First Amendment case, a Trump appointee whom he labeled as not particularly fair, will likely side with CNN, MS NOW, and Politico tomorrow in court. The three media outlets sued the administration after their, our, journalists were physically banned from White House grounds.

Now, despite its clear violation of the First Amendment, because let us remember, this is why the president initiated this ban. This is from his own mouth on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: There's something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: There's something wrong with a country that allows people to write purposely negative stories. Actually, there's nothing wrong with that country. There's everything right with that country, with the United States of America, the right to be negative, to criticize our leaders, and the principle born from that right of free speech and freedom of the press, and that is that the White House does not get to dictate who covers the White House.

After all, as Sean Hannity once said --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: The administration doesn't want to hear what we have to say. They want to silence us. They want us to shut up. They want us to get in line. They don't want people asking them the tough questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:15:02]

TAPPER: Amen, brother. That was October 2009. At that point, the Obama White House had declared Fox from conducting interviews and pool rotations.

Now, I was a White House correspondent for ABC News at the time, and all of us in broadcast and cable news stood up against the Obama White House doing that. To this day, I continue to get heat from some on the left for standing up for that principle, but it was and remains an important principle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: You can't have the most powerful people in the country, the Obama administration, basically dictating who covers the news.

President Obama's trying to exercise his power to intimidate. And I think that even the most left-wing journalists understand, hey, we can't have this in America if we want to have a free press.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We can't have this in America if we want to have a free press. Bill O'Reilly was absolutely right then, although he has the opposite take now. Now, he says that the mainstream news media is abusing the First Amendment, so Trump has every right to do what he's doing.

I will observe that if you stand for principles only when they benefit you, you're not actually in possession of those principles. You're only borrowing them. They're not yours. You're using them.

It is disappointing how few voices there are in conservative media who are protesting President Trump on any of this. I mean, after all, as Glenn Beck said --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS HOST: They've either become such cowards that they're willing to play along to get along, or they're enjoying their new role as lapdogs for this administration rather than watchdogs for the republic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Once again, amen, brother.

Floyd Abrams is a First Amendment attorney and he joins me now. Floyd, Trump labeled CNN and MS NOW and Politico's coverage as negative. Explain why that characterization of his is important in this case.

FLOYD ABRAMS, CONSTITUTIONAL AND FIRST AMENDMENT ATTORNEY: Well, that's important because the First Amendment at its core protects negative as well as positive as well as undecided speech. I mean, negative speech is sometimes extremely constructive and useful speech.

More important, what the First Amendment is all about is keeping the government from limiting people in what they can say, what they can believe, what they say, what they print, what they show. And at least in, in this area, surely, in particular, that's the opposite of what President Trump is offering us.

TAPPER: Yes, negative stories like the Pentagon Papers, negative stories like Watergate or Iran-Contra.

President Trump says that the judge whom he appointed will likely side with CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. If that happens, what's to stop the White House from, A, ignoring the judge, or, B, doing it again? ABRAMS: Well, I assume that what the president would do, at least in part, is to appeal. But in the interim, you know, if you've been told by a judge, if you've been told that the law is that this speech is allowed and you can't suppress it, you have to obey it.

Now, in terms of what sanctions are there really against a president, the best sanction so far has been that the press got together and everybody has withdrawn from this pool of journalistic organizations that provide certain information to the public so as not to allow any notion that speech of this journalist or that journalist can be barred.

One of the journalistic organizations, it should be said, that deserves some credit for being on the side of the First Amendment is Fox News.

TAPPER: Absolutely.

ABRAMS: They've joined together with all the other leading news organizations in the nation to say, look, this is what we're all about. You can't prevent, you can't punish, you can't throw someone out of the room because he disagrees with you.

TAPPER: Absolutely. The Fox D.C. bureau chief should be praised for that. It would be great if some of the Fox personalities also gave voice in the same way they did back in 2009.

[18:20:03]

Floyd Abrams, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

A grand jury investigation did not result in any charges in the investigation into the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, who died on July 4th on a trip with his friends. His family's not satisfied. They say there remain too many unanswered questions. That story's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, a Mississippi grand jury unanimously found there was no evidence to support bringing charges in the death of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old Black man found dead after a July 4th trip. This follows months of speculation about the circumstances of his tragic death while on that trip with friends who are white.

A letter from his friends' attorney says Wells decided to stay behind on the island when they went home. Wells' mother today reacted to the grand jury report.

[18:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE WONSLEY, MOTHER OF NOLAN WELLS: We still have no answers, and the report reinforced the fact that Nolan was not given a thorough, transparent, and honest investigation. There is no explanation as to how the bruising on his body and the blunt force trauma to the back of his head occurred.

How can a jury come to the conclusion of drowning despite knowing that there was trauma to his body?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: 12 grand jurors were identified as white, five as African American, two as Hispanic, two as Native American, one as Asian, and one as other. They were presented with a wide variety of evidence and witnesses. The NAACP is calling for the release of the full autopsy report from the state's medical examiner.

We will continue to follow this story.

In our World Lead today, the Trump administration informed Congress that it intends to accept 17,500 refugees next year. Most of them will be white South Africans. That's according to a report obtained by CNN in which the State Department argues this group faces discrimination in their home country, a claim that South African authorities deny.

Refugee advocates say the White House is excluding vulnerable populations from other countries from this program.

In our National Lead, Hurricane Polo is still strengthening in the Pacific after rapidly intensifying into a rare Category 5 storm this morning. It is now tied for the strongest storm anywhere on Earth this year. Fortunately, the dangerous storm is expected to remain offshore as it moves north later this week.

Coming up, will she, won't she? Waves of speculation about whether former Vice President Kamala Harris will jump into the 2028 presidential contest or sit this one out. The latest inside scoop next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, former Vice President Kamala Harris on the campaign trail today in battleground Michigan. Earlier today, Harris appeared with Michigan Senate nominee Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, hoping to boost his chances in a must-win race for Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I think we're at the, the point of our new relationship where I'm going to now call you Abdul.

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Perfect. For me, it's going to be Madam Vice President, but that's up to you.

HARRIS: That's appropriate.

EL-SAYED: As long as we're clear with that.

TAPPER: CNN's Arlette Saenz reports for us now from Michigan, where Vice President Harris' role in the 2026 midterms is fueling speculation about her political plans for 2028.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Here are the facts that highlight the stakes in this election.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Michigan today, Kamala Harris is making her fall debut in the 2026 midterms, with 2028 right around the corner. The former vice president returned to Detroit to boost Democratic Senate Nominee Abdul El-Sayed with a roundtable on black paternal health.

HARRIS: I'm here to support Dr. El-Sayed, because on this subject, I know he will be a champion.

SAENZ: Harris' visit comes two years after she lost Michigan to President Donald Trump, as many Democrats in the state were at odds over the Biden administration's position on the war between Israel and Hamas, including the conflict in Gaza.

EL-SAYED: My disagreements with the then-vice president's positions on Gaza are clear. I hope that moving forward we don't reinforce the mistakes of the past that break us apart, and start thinking about where do we go in the future.

SAENZ: Despite her loss in 2024, El-Sayed hopes Harris can help bridge the divides from a bruising Democratic Senate primary. To help with that, Harris is also meeting with faith leaders, like Reverend Wendell Anthony, about mobilizing voters in November.

REV. WENDELL ANTHONY, PRESIDENT, NAACP DETROIT BRANCH: Elections are very, very important, so we're hoping that, yes, she can help stimulate this vote to get people out.

This was Clinton when he was in office, obviously Obama.

SAENZ: Reverend Anthony leads the Detroit branch of the NAACP, and has visited with many Democrats eyeing the White House.

Harris is coming here in 2026, but a lot of people are wondering what she's going to do in 2028.

ANTHONY: That is a question.

SAENZ: Do you think she has a lock on a state like Michigan?

ANTHONY: Oh, nobody has a lock on anything. It's so early. But the thing I like is that there are a whole lot of people that have the capability.

SAENZ: As Harris visits their state, Michigan voters express mixed feelings about another White House run.

JENNIFER BATES, DEMOCRATIC MICHIGAN VOTER: I think she's grounded. I like her policies. She's not extreme. So, she fits well to me.

MICKE LOCKE, DEMOCRATIC MICHIGAN VOTER: I heard that she's talking about making a run for the presidency again. I don't agree with that. I think we ought to have fresh -- you know, fresh candidates.

SAENZ: Harris herself hasn't committed to running for president for a third time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to run for president in 2028?

HARRIS: I haven't decided.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You haven't decided?

HARRIS: Right now midterms, midterms, midterms, full time occupying my thoughts, my mind, and my work.

SAENZ: But other high-profile Democrats are waiting in limbo.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I don't know if she runs, but we'll see.

TAPPER: I know she's called around.

NEWSOM: Yes. But I wouldn't run if she ran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAENZ (on camera): Now, over the next six weeks, Harris is also set to campaign in Nevada for the Democratic nominee for governor, Aaron Ford, and down in Georgia for, with Senator Jon Ossoff. Both of those states, along with Michigan, will be key in 2028.

But it's also noticeable where she's not campaigning. She is not out on the campaign trail with Democrats running in red-leaning states like Iowa and Alaska, perhaps highlighting some of the work she may have to do within the party if she does decide to run for president for a third time.

TAPPER: And, Arlette, you've got some breaking news for us on a prominent Michigan new endorsement for Abdul El-Sayed.

[18:35:03]

Tell us more.

SAENZ: Yes, Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is Jewish and has talked about some of the tension Jewish Democrats are facing in this race, she actually joined El-Sayed for a podcast today to say that she was -- in this campaign, she felt that there was no other choice, and she thinks El-Sayed will be the candidate who can stand up and fight the Trump administration.

It comes as El-Sayed is still trying to do some work with Jewish Democrats after concerns arose during the primary, which was very divisive when Israel and concerns about Jewish safety played prominently. His opponent, Mike Rogers, is also making a play for those voters, saying that they have a home for him if they feel uncomfortable with El-Sayed.

TAPPER: All right. Arlette Saenz in Detroit, thanks so much. Political ads are flooding the airwaves, a lot of them negative, flooding social media too, with only six weeks until the midterms. Here's one, speaking of Michigan, from the Mike Rogers-backing Great Lakes Conservatives Fund. It attacks Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who we were just talking about, over his association with Hassan Piker.

The video features the voice of the father of 9/11 hero Todd Beamer who said, let's roll, as they stormed the cockpit on United Flight 93. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I hear anyone suggest America deserves 9/11, my question is, who would say that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America deserved 9/11, dude. I'm saying it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abdul, are there any views that Hasan holds that you disavow?

EL-SAYED: I'm not here to disavow people's views.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The panel joins us now. Ameshia Cross, this is one of several ads against Abdul El-Sayed because of his association with Hasan Piker. Has -- Abdul El-Sayed has said he disagrees, he disavows what Hasan Piker said, although he didn't in -- while he was appearing in that moment.

El-Sayed says this is -- this race is about Michigan issues, and speaking of 9/11, Mike Rogers voted against helping 9/11 first responders several times. What do you -- how do you think that plays in Michigan?

AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think the Michigan voters care about what's happening in Michigan. At the end of the day there are rising costs, particularly in healthcare, but also in housing costs.

I think it was very smart for El-Sayed to have his sit-down with Kamala Harris earlier specifically around women's reproductive health and black women's reproductive health. As a fibroid sufferer myself, I know that that is something that matters to a lot of women, and we don't have enough research funding for it or support for it for those who are suffering.

However, I also think that there's a very odd thing on the right that is happening right now, where there is a juxtaposition of trying to align Hasan Piker, whom is not running for anything in Michigan or anyplace else, but also trying to utilize El-Sayed's religious background against him.

And it's really disingenuous. It's quite frustrating. We are a country of a lot of Christians, but we also are a country of a whole lot of Muslims. And Michigan as a whole has a pretty sizable Muslim population. I think that Michiganders are concerned with what matters on the ground in Michigan and that they are not going to be drawn away by a Twitch streamer.

TAPPER: Mike?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Fair game.

TAPPER: You think it's fair game?

DUBKE: I think the whole ad is fair game. You know, the Senate candidate had the opportunity to distance himself from Piker. He did not. You showed the clip of him saying, well, I don't want to talk about a California streamer, whatever language that he was using. He had that opportunity. It goes to judgment. I think all of this is fair game.

And you're going to see more of these ads both on the left and the right calling into question previous comments that politicians have made. They should be ready for that.

TAPPER: So, let's --

CROSS: Well, the politician didn't make it. The Twitch streamer made it.

TAPPER: Yes.

DUBKE: Yes, but he has associated himself with that Twitch streamer.

TAPPER: We got a lot of ads to get through, so let's turn to the race for Ohio's Seventh Congressional District. Politico reports that Republican Congressman Max Miller, who we've covered his family issues quite a bit this year, he's threatening legal action over this ad released by his Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter.

The ad features a local sheriff listing off some of the domestic abuse allegations by Miller's ex-wife, which Congressman Miller denies. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Court documents say Miller beat her, held a gun to her head. Child welfare found a broken collarbone on their two- year-old, broken under his care, and with suspicious bruising.

34 years in law enforcement tells me Max Miller does not belong in power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Mike, you said fair game about the --

DUBKE: Fair game, yes.

TAPPER: This is also fair game, you think?

DUBKE: This is fair game as well, but here's the difference. So, the first ad that you showed was from a independent expenditure organization.

TAPPER: Right.

DUBKE: They have to document everything that they say in an ad in order for a station -- a station can refuse that ad whenever they want to, and they have to have a documentation of every charge that they make. That ad, if I read the paid for by correctly, was from a candidate.

[18:40:03]

TAPPER: Yes, Brian Poindexter, the Democrat.

DUBKE: Here's the dirty little secret in American politics. Candidates can say whatever they want to in the ad -- and the stations can't take it down.

So, I do think it's fair game, but I do think that, you know, your audience needs to remember, when you look at that paid for by, you really need to understand who's paying for that ad, because it makes a difference.

TAPPER: Yes. I don't know that people go into that granularity of detail.

CROSS: Well, I'm just saying --

TAPPER: What'd you think of that ad?

CROSS: Many women have paid the consequences of this man's abuse, and many of those same women have come out and said it themselves. As someone who's personally lost four friends to domestic violence, I take this very seriously.

TAPPER: Oh, that's horrible.

CROSS: But in cases like this, I honestly thought that he should've dropped out a long time ago. This is really disgusting. Not only does it, in some ways, push women voters away, but also should push anybody who has a family away, because this man has shown a longevitous timeframe of abuse against women. And it is very problematic. It is really frustrating. We should not be rewarding bad behavior.

And I don't care what the ad says or, you know, who funds it. At the end of the day, I believe the women who have come forth in multiple occasions over the course of longer than a decade to say what this man did to them.

DUBKE: And there's a lot of Republicans that agree with you, that he should've dropped out of the race long before this.

TAPPER: Including Mike Dubke. DUBKE: Yes.

TAPPER: Let's turn to violence in Georgia, because yesterday on social media, Rick Jackson, the Republican nominee running for Georgia governor, posted this video attacking his Democratic opponent, a former Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did they shoot you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shot her. Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are not answering 9/11 calls right now due to personnel issues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're strapped for units also.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so proud of everything I did as mayor, and how I pushed through and how the city navigated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, that was a compilation of undated videos showing violence and 9/11 calls, some of which went unanswered, aimed at portraying chaos during Bottoms' tenure as mayor.

Ameshia, Bottoms did oversee what she called Atlanta's COVID crime wave in 2021. Is that ad fair?

CROSS: I think that for people in the Atlanta area who were suffering under that crime wave, they have had their questions and they have brought those forth to her. She knew when she ran that some of these things would be brought up again. In all honesty, one of the reasons why she did not run for mayor again in Atlanta was because of those things that were running at the time.

As somebody who comes from a city that also has its share of violence, the city of Chicago, I think that for many people, specifically living in large urban centers during the pandemic, every major city saw some of this. So, I don't solely put that on the mayor. But I do think that she has a lot to overcome if that's one of the targeted campaign ads.

TAPPER: So, Mike, let's turn to the race for Ohio governor right now. Democratic Nominee Dr. Amy Acton is out with this ad against her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy. This ad features a husband whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer's and was, in his view, kind of suckered by a drug for Alzheimer's that Ramaswamy was selling. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He pushed an Alzheimer's drug that he knew didn't work. He made hundreds of millions of dollars scamming people like me.

Mr. Ramaswamy, you don't give a damn about anybody. I just hope at some point he realizes the damage he's done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Oof. Tough.

DUBKE: That's a hard-hitting ad.

TAPPER: Yes.

DUBKE: That's a hard-hitting ad.

You know, the thing that about all of these ads that you're playing is the diversification of screens that people are looking at. And I think one thing that you've noticed if you look at these ads as opposed to maybe ads that were run a decade ago or even maybe six years ago, is a lot of these are very quick changes of video, a lot of very -- that ad could be treated into a 6-second or a 15-second format so that it could be used as pre-roll on YouTube and other places.

So, all of these ads now, you almost have to convey some level of emotion so quickly because the way that ads are being presented and where people are getting their information now.

CROSS: I mean, what does he say? I'm sorry. I didn't know, because both of those would be false. He definitely knew he was pushing a drug that did not work. Secondarily, he didn't care who got hurt. A lot of people's families, millions across the country, suffer from watching their family members with Alzheimer's and praying for a miracle or any type of drug that can help to bring those people back. He knew that there was no scientific backing for that drug, and he went ahead and pushed it because there was money to be made.

It is disgusting, and those same people who bought into it, the same people who believed that this miracle thing could help them and bring their families back, those are the people who he hurt the most.

TAPPER: You know, it's funny you say disgusting, because I was trying to think what emotion do all of these ads have in common? What are they trying to make you feel? And they're trying to make you feel disgust, every one of them --

DUBKE: Every single one.

TAPPER: -- against Abdul El-Sayed for the Hasan Piker, against Max Miller for the domestic abuse violations, against the mayor for what happened during her tenure, and against Vivek Ramaswamy preying on these people publicly.

DUBKE: I put it angry or fear. I mean, I think that's the -- in order to motivate somebody to turn out and vote.

TAPPER: Yes. Anger or fear.

DUBKE: Anger and fear.

TAPPER: Yes, absolutely, two of the most powerful emotions and ones that politicians like to prey upon to get your vote.

[18:45:05]

Thanks to both of you. Great to have you.

A big event coming up next week, CNN hosting a debate in the California race for governor. I'm going to have to fly out there and do this alongside CNN's Dana Bash. That's Wednesday, September 30th, 6:00 p.m. Pacific, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, one day from tomorrow.

We're going to carry it live on CNN, CNN International, CNN Espanol, and streaming on the CNN app. But I hope you've downloaded by now.

Attorneys say dozens of people are now reporting brain injuries after riding one specific rollercoaster at Six Flags. Those details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: More than 100 people have come forward to say that they suffered brain injuries after riding an extreme roller coaster at Six Flags, according to the attorneys representing the people, that's after a CNN investigation linked the world famous X2 ride to severe injuries and deaths going back a decade.

All of these new claims come from people who rode the roller coaster in just the past two years.

CNN's Kyung Lah has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL WILK, INJURED ROLLERCOASTER RIDER: It's not about the lawsuit.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hard for Michael Wilk to comprehend how so many people like him say they were injured at Six Flags Magic Mountain on a roller coaster called X2. He underwent emergency brain surgery after his doctor ordered an MRI.

WILK: I truly hope that by coming forward, changes will be made.

[18:50:07]

That's my goal. That -- that's why I'm here today.

LAH (voice-over): Wilks lawyers announced more than 100 people plan to sue Six Flags. Three have already been filed, but many more say they were seriously injured on this ride.

GARY DORDICK, ATTORNEY FOR RIDERS' FAMILIES: We were contacted by more than 300 people injured on the X2 ride. We couldn't take all of the cases. Some were past the time limits in California, which is two years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! LAH (voice-over): A CNN investigation first reported two women

collapsed right after riding the roller coaster at Magic Mountain this summer. They ended up in the same hospital the same week, and both women underwent emergency surgery for similar brain hemorrhages. Pam Gillen was at Magic Mountain with her daughter Camille, celebrating her 16th birthday on July 5th.

PAMELA GUILLEN, INJURED ROLLERCOASTER RIDER: It was seconds. You go in as yourself and then when you come back, you're a medical emergency.

LAH: This was from a roller coaster.

GUILLEN: Exactly.

LAH (voice-over): Six days later, then 25-year-old Naomi Greer Wilkinson got on the X2 roller coaster. She collapsed after she got off the ride and was rushed to the hospital where Pam Gillen was being treated. Doctors who treated both Naomi Greer Wilkinson and Pam Guillen say the severe brain injuries were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride.

ARTEMIS GREER, MOTHER OF HOSPITALIZED RIDER: I do remember one of the surgeons storming through the E.R. and yelling, how many is it this month? They've got to shut that ride down. He was furious.

LAH (voice-over): Here's what Six Flags says. That makes the X2 roller coaster different. The seats spin 360 degrees forwards and backwards, independently. Around the track, riders plummet 200 feet at speeds of up to 76 miles per hour, with two so-called raven turns, or half loops that turn into sheer drops. In three lawsuits filed against Magic Mountain, riders say the park deliberately hid evidence from the public, and riders like them.

DORDICK: If people voluntarily choose to ride a roller coaster, they don't assume a risk of death or catastrophic brain damage for some family fun.

LAH (voice-over): Wilkes stood next to Pam Guillen and Naomi Greer Wilkinson's parents, at the news conference filled with regret. He was hurt just months before Naomi and Pam.

WILK: I cannot help but feel if I had reported it, maybe, maybe something would have happened. Maybe Magic Mountain would have taken it more seriously and they would not have been injured.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: We did reach out to Six Flags. The company says it will not comment about pending litigation. The X2 is no longer running, but six flags did not tell us exactly why it has stopped running.

And, Jake, we did reach out to those lawyers just about when they anticipate these lawsuits will be filed. They say it will be in the next coming weeks. They do say it will be 100 lawsuits -- Jake.

TAPPER: Kyung Lah, thank you so much.

A galaxy of art and Hollywood history all under one roof. George Lucas's new museum is now open in Los Angeles, and CNN's Elex Michaelson is going to take us inside. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:57:40]

TAPPER: In the heart of Hollywood, George Lucas is opening the doors to a brand-new museum and a whole new world.

CNN's Elex Michaelson takes us inside the opening night of the new Lucas Museum.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His movies transport us to a galaxy far, far away. And his museum looks like it could be a spaceship drawing the biggest stars in this galaxy to see it firsthand.

GEORGE LUCAS, FILMMAKER AND MUSEUM CO-FOUNDER: You get to decide what art is.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Director George Lucas and his wife, Mellody Hobson, spent $1 billion to make the Lucas Museum of narrative art a reality.

MICHAELSON: What's the big thing you want people to see when they walk through those doors?

MELLODY HOBSON, LUCAS'S WIFE AND MUSEUM CO-FOUNDER: Themselves. We want them to see themselves.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Mark Hamill literally saw himself as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars exhibit.

MICHAELSON: What does this museum mean to the Star Wars legacy?

MARK HAMILL, ACTOR: Well, it's an acknowledgment of how George created something that has become a permanent part of pop culture for the ages.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): The Star Wars collection, only about 7 percent of the 1,300 pieces of art on display here.

SIR LEWIS HAMILTON, FORMULA ONE RACING DRIVER: It's mind blowing. Mellody always describes it. It's like going through George's brain.

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR: This is George's soul. This is who he is and the kind of stuff he wants people to see, and the kind of things that made him who he is.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): The building itself feels like a set piece from a Lucas blockbuster. MICHAELSON: The elevator feels like you're taking a ride straight into

a science fiction movie.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Three hundred thousand square feet on 13 acres. Its futuristic design topped with a massive rooftop park.

OPRAH WINFREY, TV HOST & PRODUCER: It brings me to tears to see what they have been able to do here. It's beyond words.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Opening night includes music, a drone show and virtually every major director in modern Hollywood history assembled in one epic class picture.

JOHN M. CHU, DIRECTOR: Star Wars made me believe in magic. Made me, you know, sit in that theater and want to change my whole life.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Lucas himself on hand for the opening ceremony to the public.

LUCAS: Everything you do, everything you say is a lesson for somebody else.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): The real goal inspire the next generation of storytellers. All kids under 17 get free admission.

TULLAN PORTOCK, USC FILM STUDENT: To know that we can maybe have a museum someday or have ideas like his. It's very inspiring.

MICHAELSON: And one of the highlights, the tour guides.

May the force be with you.

Elex Michaelson, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Our thanks to Elex Michaelson for that report. Elex is going to have much more tonight on his show. It's called "THE STORY IS WITH ELEX MICHAELSON". Look for it at midnight Eastern or 9:00 Pacific only here on CNN.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.